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The Committee notes the Government's report and the detailed information it contains in reply to its comments.

1. With regard to the application of section 7(XX) of the 1988 Constitution, under which women workers are protected by specific incentives the Committee notes that draft regulations (some of which deal with remuneration) have been formulated but were set aside because of the presentation of other bills during the new legislative session, among which is Bill 382-B/91 on women's access to the labour market which, among other things, prohibits a person's sex being taken as a principal determinant for purposes of remuneration. In this regard, the Committee recalls that the aforementioned Bill was the subject of a comment in the November-December 1995 observation on Convention No. 111, which also noted that some of its sections had been superseded by other legal provisions. The Committee requests the Government to inform it on the present state of this Bill in the Federal Senate and whether it has been amended.

2. Similarly, the Committee notes that the supporting documents in the aforementioned Bill supply statistics apparently extracted from the National Household Sample Survey (PNAD) of 1987 and information from 1985 provided by the former Ministry of Labour and Social Welfare on the difference in remuneration between men and women, in both general and specific occupations. It requests the Government to supply recent statistical data on women's remuneration in the present labour market.

3. With regard to the matter of weaknesses of the labour inspection services and the alleged lack of women's knowledge of their rights, the Committee notes according to the information supplied by the Government, the Labour Inspectorate has been strengthened in recent months with the admission of a larger number of candidates who passed the recent public examination, bringing the total number of inspectors up to over 3,000 for the whole country. Apart from the State-level Inspectorate, a Mobile Inspection Team has been created, authorized to operate throughout the country and able to reach even the most distant areas in less than 48 hours. With these developments, the defects of the system are being gradually eliminated. The Government also indicates that the Inspectorate will endeavour to prevent practices and infringements such as a difference in remuneration according to sex which is an offence liable to an administrative procedure punishable by a fine and the initiation of a civil case. The Committee requests the Government to keep it informed on the number of cases tried for violation of the principle of equal remuneration for work of equal value and the number of these offences registered by the Labour Inspectorate.

4. On the question of raising women's awareness of their rights, the Committee notes with interest the awareness-raising campaign being undertaken among the social partners, with ILO support, on the importance of equality by means of a Working Group for the Elimination of Discrimination in Employment and Professional Life (GTEDEO), and the Government's efforts to approve a Bill on women's work. The Committee requests the Government to keep it informed on progress in the activities of this Working Group and on any legislation which is approved.